Authorities say a juvenile was questioned Wednesday in connection with a threatening Instagram post that prompted officials to close schools for the day in Ozark.

Christian County Sheriff Brad Cole said authorities got a 911 call at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday alerting them to the social media post, and they moved quickly to investigate the matter. School officials eventually elected to cancel classes throughout the Ozark district as a safety precaution.

Christian County Juvenile Officer Perry Barnes said charges are likely, pending further investigation.

Barnes said the charge he expects to file against the suspect is the juvenile court equivalent of making a terroristic threat.

Barnes declined to release the age, gender or hometown of the juvenile.

He said the juvenile acted alone and that no obvious actions were taken to carry out a “vicious or malicious” attack.

Curtis Chesick, executive director of communications and technology for Ozark schools, said the post apparently warned 86 Ozark High School freshmen not to show up for classes Wednesday.

Curtis Chesick(Photo11: File photo)

The post was shared quickly across multiple social media platforms, igniting concern among students, parents and school employees.

Chesick said the decision to shut down schools Wednesday was made by 3:30 a.m.

"We talked about the information we had and decided to call off classes," he said. "It came down to student safety."

The case is being handled by the Ozark Police Department, the Christian County Sheriff's Office and Ozark school police.

Chesick said the threatening post was vague and didn't mention any specific plans or targets.

At a joint news conference at 10 a.m., Sheriff Cole declined to give the exact wording of the post. He said it was basically a warning strongly suggesting some students not attend on Wednesday.

Ozark School Resource Officer Mark Deeds said at the news conference that authorities had not swept the high school for possible explosives.

"There's nothing at this point in our investigation that we feel would rise to that level," Deeds said.

Deeds said since the threatening post was made on social media, it spread quickly to other jurisdictions. He said he had been fielding calls since Tuesday night from school districts as far away as Florida inquiring about the post.

"It’s very easy to distribute those types of posts, which may include a threat," Deeds said. "Unfortunately I think this did go out and it did reach out and touch many jurisdictions around southwest Missouri and beyond that."

Deeds said investigators are confident the post originated in Ozark.

Ozark Superintendent Kevin Patterson said he's received positive feedback from parents about the decision to cancel classes on Wednesday.

"Our parents are very supportive and understanding that safety is a high priority for the Ozark School District," Patterson said. "Our students are our most precious commodity."

Ozark schools officials posted on their Facebook page Wednesday afternoon that classes would be held on Thursday.

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Ozark schools closed down on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017 after a threatening message was received on social media.(Photo11: Andrew Jansen/News-Leader)

The Ozark threat comes two days after a gun threat surfaced against a Branson school.

According to the Branson district, the police were notified that a Walmart supervisor reported that an individual called, threatening to "shoot up" the Walmart on Missouri 76 and then proceed to Branson schools. An investigation showed the threat was not credible.